Navigating Marginalisation: A Case Study of Women’s Organising in Matinyani Sub County, Kitui County, Kenya

The marginalisation of women is a contemporary issue which bears significant social and economic implications. Widespread and long-standing, its manifestation and consequences varies across race, geography, and culture. However, the impact of marginalisation is more acute in developing countries, making life harder for deprived and underrepresented populations. Using an ethnographic design to capture lived experiences in situ, the study uses Feminist Standpoint Theory, and African Feminism(s) as a lens to explore how a group of women impacted by the incidence of HIV in rural Kitui in Kenya, navigate their marginalisation in the context of Mwethya, a cultural practice where personhood is realised through communitarianism. Living alongside the participants allowed a personal insight into their lives. The ensuing rich data elicited individual and collective experiences of stigma and gendered struggle. Social Constructionism has been applied in the analysis of data to reveal gendered dimensions of marginalisation and poverty that lie silenced behind walls of culture, tradition, hierarchism and patriarchy. The data demonstrates how the women, in an interplay of agency and structure, leverage Mwethya to support welfare in a collective attempt to overcome social and cultural barriers that impede their lives. My interest in this topic stems from my personal heritage. The findings presented a mixed picture. On the one hand, women felt strengthened and empowered by Mwethya because it brought them together in a communal and powerful way. On the other hand, their capacity to navigate marginalisation was significantly limited by extreme poverty, illness and the context of a highly patriarchal society over which they had limited influence.</p

Images of Research 2019

Images Of Research 2019 Winners: Yang Chen – ‘Spiral Up and Down’ - Judges’ Prize Winner Dina El-Hamamsy – ‘Where is my patient Patient?’ - Joint Judges’ Prize Runners-up Tom Matheson – ‘Ginormous Genome’ (1) - Joint Judges’ Prize Runners-up Styliano Spathariotis – ‘Girl with a Metallic Earring’ - Katherine May People’s Choice Winner Soheb Mandhai – ‘The Cosmic Dance of Two Neutron Stars’ - People’s Choice Runner-up Brandon Fathy – ‘Speed, Space, and Time’ - Leicester Institute of Advanced Studies Interdisciplinary Prize Images Of Research 2018 submissions: Abbey Ellis – ‘Carving Out an Understanding’ (1) Abbey Ellis – ‘The Art of the Reproduction’ (2) Ahmed Elimam - Untitled Artur Soczawa-Stronczyk – ‘Do the locomotion with me’ Aseel Alfuhied – ‘Cosmic storm in the heart of darkness’ (1) Aseel Alfuhied – ‘Heart to Heart’ (2) Aseel Alfuhied – ‘Pop Heart’ (3) Beatriz Sanchez-Cano – ‘The Sun, our neural connection’ Cesare Cuzzola – ‘Buddha Day 2019’ Charlotte Barratt – ‘Sound’ (1) Charlotte Barratt – ‘Girl Praying’ (2) Chris Allen – ‘Perceptions and Realities: Building Community Resilience Against Extremism’ (1) Chris Allen – ‘Perceptions and Realities: Building Community Resilience Against Extremism’ (2) David Unwin – ‘Death flight’ Diane Urquhart – ‘Laying ghosts to rest’ Eloisa Rodrigues – ‘Tropical self-portrait’ Fernando Schlindwein – ‘Chaos in the heart’ (1) Fernando Schlindwein – ‘Porcupine’ (2) Graham Frobisher – ‘The 7th Decade Manager’ Hanna McQuail – ‘That colossal wreck, boundless and bare’ Hatice Kayman – ‘Immigrants have opportunities to do their festivals in London’ Hedwig Krawczyk – ‘Underwater Time Machines’ Hipolito Treffinger – ‘Layers’ Jacqueline Taylor – ‘Miriam Haughton at the British Academy’ Jan Vandeburie – ‘Dress to Impress’ Jennifer Beamer – ‘Human-Animal Relationships in Weaving’ John Goodwin – ‘Slow Sociology in South Wigston’ Kinga Kolodziej – ‘In a blink of an eye…’ (1) Kinga Kolodziej – ‘In a blink of an eye…’ (2) Kristina Wright – ‘Janus-Faced Seoul’ Kseniia Bondarenko – ‘Your brain drives me crazy’ (1) Kseniia Bondarenko – ‘Your brain drives me crazy’ (2) Liam Crawford – ‘The heartfelt love story between one nanoparticle and another’ Lisa Huddlestone – ‘Seeing the wood and the trees’ (1) Lisa Huddlestone – ‘Seeing the wood and the trees’ (2) Margarita Avgerinopoulou – ‘A dash of magic’ (1) Margarita Avgerinopoulou – ‘Fantasy at the making’ (2) Martha Papadopoulou – ‘The power of a drop’ (1) Martha Papadopoulou – ‘Every drop counts’! (2) Mayamin Altae - Untitled (or the Tennyson quote) Michael Curtis – ‘The arrival of the shoreline detective’ (1) Michael Curtis – ‘The arrival of the shoreline detective’ (2) Neelam Dave – ‘The damage bacteria can do’ Neil Harris – ‘Colour amongst the chaos’ Nitu Gupta – ‘Far Beyond Insecurities’ Nora Ngii Musyoka – ‘She’s Just the Other Half of Me’ Nukul Charlin – ‘Why are Ladyboy Tolerated in Thai Society?’ Pariyakorn Petkaew – ‘Be silent…Be thinking’ Rachel Belben – ‘Ardeadactylus longicollum’ (1) Rachel Belben – ‘Psittacosaurus’ (2) Roberto Sommariva - Untitled Saima Ahmad – ‘The Command Centre’ (1) Saima Ahmad – ‘Vial do you see it?’ (2) Saima Ahmad – ‘Beyond the Canopy’ (3) Samuel J Perry – ‘Metallic snowflakes’ (1) Samuel J Perry – ‘Metallic snowflakes’ (2) Stephanie Bowry – ‘Storm Clouds over Vaux-le-Vicomte’ Tom Matheson – ‘Ginormous Genome’ (2) Yewande Okuleye – ‘Commemoration, Remembrance and Bodies of Evidence’ Yewande Okuleye, Robert Garner – ‘From pain to pleasure: We no longer just eat our greens, it’s imperative to photograph share and like on Instagram.’ (1) Yewande Okuleye, Robert Garner – ‘A green plaque for animal ethics?’ (2) Yewande Okuleye, Robert Garner – ‘A green plaque for animal ethics?’ (3)</p